James wrote: but that would be to miss out Paris Commune, where Marx argued a new kind of state power was born, the dictatorship of the proletariat. There is very little in Lenin that isn't already in The Paris Commune. *********** I think a close reading of what Marx wrote would lead one to differentiate between a proletarian democracy aka DOP and socialism. The Paris Commune was not socialism in Marx's eyes. A DOP yes because it was a workers dominated democracy. I think a dictatorship of a party is not a DOP. You and I probably differ there, but I don't think that difference qualifies me as being an anarchist. As I said, if anyone is really interested in how proletarian democracy was obliterated during the Russian Revo from 1917-1921 Brinton's BOLSHEVIKS AND WORKERS CONTROL is a good place to look. http://libcom.org/library/the-bolsheviks-and-workers-control-solidarity-group
And James is right: workers' control was the issue.
As far as anarchists and Australia go, I've met a few in Oz. I've also met a lot of non-anarchists. So, I conclude that just as in the US, there are anarchists here and there and a lot of other self-described socialist types as well, even in the IWW. :P As for me, I'm more inclined to agree with Ted's and B's pronouncements than say yours or other pro-Leninist ideologists on this list when it comes to questions like this one. I'm for social ownership of the means of production unnder the democratic control of the producers, kind of like Marx was for an association of producers where the condition for the freedom of each was the condition for the freedom of all. I'm also firmly convinced that Marx meant I disagree with Bakunin on the question of authority and agree with Engels; but I don't think that Engels meant that the proles had to endure the dictatorship of a self-appointed vanguard party in order to be acquitted of the charge of anarchism.
Engels was a very practical fellow and he was pointing more to the need for a democratically elected orchestra conductors/authority in socialist industrialised societies than just settling the question of democracy with a plea for 'decentralisation'.
Mike B)
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